Vincenzo Montella: Tomorrow's match is important for us to secure our spot

Turkey will face Bulgaria in Bursa tomorrow in the 5th match of Group E of the 2026 World Cup Qualifiers. Before the match, head coach Vincenzo Montella and national player İsmail Yüksek made statements at the press conference held at the Atatürk Sports Complex Matlı Stadium.

Stating that he apologized not because they won the away match against Bulgaria, but for their celebration, Montella said, "Actually, we didn't apologize because we won 6-1. We only apologized for the celebration we showed in the 6th goal, where we reached the 6-1 score. Because, as you know, we needed to correct that," he said.

Stating that tomorrow's match will not be easy, Montella said, "My expectation regarding tomorrow's match is that it will be a team that plays very compactly and moves quickly in transitions. It will be a tall, physical team. We expect a team that acts very quickly on counterattacks and transitions, and plays vertically.

Of course, we need to be patient. We need to continue the game with patience when we cannot get the score immediately. We will not be hasty in any way. We could not reflect the football we wanted in the first half in Bulgaria. We reflected the football we wanted in the second half. That's why it won't be an easy match. Of course, we want to get the result we want by doing everything we can," he said.

"TOMORROW'S MATCH IS IMPORTANT"

Stating that he does not see the match as a friendly, Montella said, "We see it as a very important match in our own journey. Because we need to guarantee our participation from the first pot. First of all, we need to say this. That's why we don't see tomorrow's match as any kind of friendly match. On the contrary, we are moving step by step. It is the philosophy we always follow. We will always move step by step and we are going one by one to get the results we want. I know that this is the case not only on my part but on the part of everyone here," he said.

"WE NEED TO EXPLAIN TO FOOTBALLERS THAT BETTING IS FORBIDDEN"

Speaking about the betting investigation, Montella continued his words as follows:

"I mean, it's actually a very sad incident. These kinds of betting problems have happened in other countries, in Italy in the past as well. It was done by stealing the identities of many footballers. But as you know, there is something else that is sad. These types of bets happened more in the 3rd and 4th Leagues. I think we can be a little better at information sharing. We especially need to inform footballers about these issues. If a footballer is playing, they need to know that it is forbidden. Unfortunately, I don't think this is the case here. These transactions were also carried out by stealing the identities of many footballers."